Olympic ceremony lights up rainy Paris, Olympics officially open

Olympic ceremony lights up rainy Paris, Olympics officially open

The Olympic flame rises on a hot air balloon after being lit at the opening ceremony in Paris. Photo

A hot air balloon hoists the Olympic flame into the rainy sky, Celine Dion sings from the Eiffel Tower, and the first Summer Olympics in 100 years opens in Paris.

The heavy rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the athletes, some of whom even held umbrellas as they navigated their boats down the Seine. The ambitious ceremony, held as authorities investigate suspected sabotage aimed at France’s high-speed rail network, saw dozens of heads of state and government gather in Paris and millions of people around the world watch as the city was transformed into a giant open-air theatre. Along the Seine, iconic monuments have become stages for dancers, singers and other artists.
Among them, the Louvre Museum, near which French judo champion Teddy Riner and triple Olympic running champion Marie-José Perec lit the Olympic cauldron. The boiler was attached to a giant hot air balloon and flew through the night, a tribute to France’s pioneer of manned flight.
Marie-Josée Perec and Teddy Riner light the torch during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics. Photo: PA
Despite the weather, crowds filled the banks and bridges of the Seine and watched from balconies as the Olympic team paraded in boats along the increasingly turbulent waterway. Many of the hundreds of thousands of spectators took shelter under umbrellas, plastic ponchos or jackets as the rains intensified. Organizers said the weather had forced them to abandon some elements of the show they deemed too dangerous in slippery conditions. Lady Gaga sang in a recorded song in French with a dancer trembling with a pumpom with pink wings, and injecting a cabaret sensation.
At Eiffel Tower, Celine Dion has closed the sight with her first live performance since French Canadian singers were diagnosed with RAID syndrome, a rare neurological disorder at the end of 2022. Serellion played at the Eiffel Tower at the Olympic opening ceremony in 2024.
At a specific moment, the popster of France’s Maya Aya Nakamura is the world’s most listening franco artist, and to sing his tube “Jaja”. After leaving, a Republican security guard was accompanied. A French French security group group. 。
At the ceremony, a woman, including 10 gold statues of a pioneer of women from a huge pedestal along the river, pointed out.
Among them was Olympe de Gouges, who drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Women and the Female Citizen in 1791 during the French Revolution. She campaigned for the abolition of slavery and was guillotined in 1793. The goal for the Paris Games is to have equal numbers of men and women competing for the first time.
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